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2013 Eat Out DStv Food Network Restaurant Awards

By , 11 November 2013

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EatOut logoThe top 10 restaurants in South Africa according to Eat Out magazine and website were announced last night. Good food should be matched with good wine so it’s curious to note that out of the top 10, only three have winelists to have won recognition at the Diners Club Winelist Awards announced earlier in the year:

1. The Test Kitchen

2. Five Hundred

3. Rust en Vrede – Diamond Award, Diners Club Winelist Awards

4. The Greenhouse

5. Hartford House – Diamond Award, Diners Club Winelist Awards

6. Jordan Restaurant

7. Overture

8. Camphors at Vergelegen

9. The Tasting Room at Le Quartier Français

10. Pierneef à La Motte – Diamond Award, Diners Club Winelist Awards

Include the other 10 finalists and the situation improves slightly with five establishments having winelists awarded by Diners Club.

Bread & Wine

Delaire Graff Estate Restaurant

DW Eleven-13 – Gold Award, Diners Club Winelist Awards

Indochine – Diamond Award, Diners Club Winelist Awards

The Kitchen at Maison

La Colombe – Diamond Award, Diners Club Winelist Awards

Makaron – Diamond Award, Diners Club Winelist Awards

Planet Restaurant – Diamond Award, Diners Club Winelist Awards

The Restaurant at Waterkloof

Tokara

Comments

6 comment(s)

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    David C | 11 November 2013

    …and my two cents…

    To expand on Joe’s first point: many restaurants do not enter the Diners Club winelist awards.

    Usually one of two reasons:
    1. They think the rules are too static for such a dynamic subject (they simply don’t respect the awards)
    2. They don’t think they should pay to enter

    I have written a magazine article on this very subject – I will hopefully get a link to it soon.

    Joe | 11 November 2013

    … and as an afterthought: some unfair comparison. Five Hundred has one of the most exquisite & challenging winelists I’ve ever come across, while Camphors offers Vergelegen’s wines almost exclusively. I’d be happy to drink from either of those before looking at another Diners Club list.

      Christian | 11 November 2013

      Hi Joe, Thanks for your (entirely valid) observations. I guess the bigger point is that wine still doesn’t feature at any level of the local restaurant scene as much as it could. Earlier in the year, I had really delicious fried hake and chips served by a friendly and attentive waitressat the Ocean Basket in Kloof Street, Cape Town . The winelist was hopeless, however, and I ended up opting for a beer to accompany my meal. Oh, for a bottle of Perdeberg Chenin that day.,.

        Joe | 11 November 2013

        Agreed. Even the way-better-than-average restaurant’s winelist is filled with generic plonk, or grossly overpriced. Long, long way to go. WHich is why I welcome BYO, even when the corkage feels like thuggery.

    Joe | 11 November 2013

    It’s worthwhile remembering that you have to enter the Diners Club competition to win anything, whereas Eat Out’s judges are free to choose whomever they want to. Let’s also be honest about it: Diners Club has a long way to go and a lot to do before anyone with even the slightest bit of wine knowledge will regard their “competition” seriously again.

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